Zeusman - well u got me

?? I'm not sure what you mean mate?

Ok sure. I'd be happy to tell you a bit about my findings. Just wasn't sure what you meant by "You got me"

Like most SUPers I started out with the intention of using a SUP for flat water paddling only & got myself an 11'6 Chinese behemoth that weighed as much as a small car. Shortly after I began venturing into small waves & found that it surfed like a house brick, which then got me looking into better designed boards that are more geared toward surfing.

Enter the 11'6 Nalu

Compared to the Great Wall of China that I began on, the Naish surfed fantastic. I found myself leaving the longboards at home more often in favour of the Nalu & was having an absolute ball. I got quite confident & competent on that board & was taking on bigger waves than I ever did on prone boards.

Shortly after I got a Starby 9'5 Widepoint. It took me quite a while to get use to such a small SUP(small in comparison to 11'6) but once I did, I started frothing heavily for this new sport.

From there, the journey of boards went like this:

2012 Starby 9'8 Pro AST
Starby 11'2 Blend
9'6 PSH Hull Ripper
C4 9'8 Raimana
11'4 Nalu(which I still have, its a keeper)
Hokua 9'10 GT
Hokua 9'0 GT
C4 MR Pro
& currently
JP 9'2 Pro, JP 8'10 Pro, PSH 12' Gun

During this time I sold all my longboards & now only ride SUP. I have also gotten in to the racing side & am keenly awaiting the arrival of a new Naish Glide 14 GX.

As you can see by the list, I have a bit of an OCD when it comes to this sport which I absolutely love! I have learned alot from riding all these boards in terms of rocker, rail shape & thickness, outline, deck shape & thickness & How it all effects stability, glide, turning ability of a board for a bloke my size & then ultimately, what I look for & like in a board. I also feel that riding so many different boards has helped improve my surfing ability much quicker than if I'd sticked to just one or 2 boards over the same time period.

To me, SUP board design is still pretty much in an infancy type stage which I find pretty cool & exciting. To be able to see how the boards evolve from one year to the next from the top riders feedback is awesome!

I love this forum too. Have learned a hell of alot just by reading what all the other breezoids get up to & it keeps me stoked!

If all goes to plan, i'll be entering the Molokai 3 man team division with 2 mates who also get on the Breeze. If it wasn't for Seabreeze, I'd probably never even have contemplated it.

So, I hope that little rant is what you wanted mate. I know I had fun sharing.

Yew!!!

Personally, I've found the performance of the JP boards just as good, if not better than the Hokua boards.

They're certainly lighter & far more stable than the 9'0 Hokua. I can sit out the back on my 8'10 JP in choppy/windy conditions & never fall off. The 9'0 Hokua I could only really handle in near perfect glass. Even then I had to keep paddling around to stay upright.

The only thing that I consider a drawback is the fact the JP boards only come with only three fin boxes. I really think they should be made with five boxes. I loved riding the Hokuas with a five fin setup. The 9'0 i rode with K2 quads & a Knubster fin in the center.

Nalu I only really use in the surf or to teach friends. I use a 14' for flat water.

The difference in stability I found to be marginal. The difference in glide & looseness is more noticable.

How's the Nalu in bigger fatter waves? Considering the 10 6 for smaller to head high fatter beach days - I need to paddle a fair wee bit along a long bay to choose the best spots. I'm 90kg so on the limit for one but reckon they are a nice shape.

Zeusman,

Have you considered custom SUPS?

Well I have an idea of what I would like and will be visiting a custom board guy very soon for in depth discussion.

From what I have established there is more flexibility to meet needs plus boards are much lighter, time will tell.

Zeusman... nicely played!
Great overview topic... informative.... I'm enjoying the read.

Ok I'm going custom!

All the boards I've owned so far, liked some things about them but not other things. (Like the thickness & rocker but not the width & tail, or like the glide & the way it surfs but not the rolled deck & lack of stability). So it makes sense to put all the elements I have liked about different boards into the one board.

Been talking with a couple of people & tossing ideas around & decided to do it. Looking at 9'0 by 29.5, 4" thick flat deck,single in to double & V through the tail. Fairly fine rails & a squash or rounded pin tail. It's gonna take some time but I'm frothing already.

Not sure about rocker. Need to talk with the shaper.

Oh it'll definitely have 5 boxes. I'm actually a fan of a quad setup with a nubster in the centre.

Cool. Let me know how it goes.